Tim Duncan is averaging 17.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game in this postseason. Kin Man Hui / San Antonio Express-News

Tim Duncan is averaging 17.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game in...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Tim Duncan had concerns as long ago as last fall. According to a well-placed source, that led him to hire a private investigator.

A divorce petition was filed two months ago. Amy Duncan moved out about three weeks ago, the source said.

But this isn't about he-said, she-said. This is about he-played. Duncan has been living with emotional turmoil for most of the season, and yet he's played basketball as well as he has in six years.

Given that, should anyone wonder if the latest news might impact Game 3?

That doesn't mean an intensely private man hasn't been affected. He's been leaving the AT&T Center with his two kids and a nanny, and Saturday will be a first. Then, he will play knowing everyone else knows about his pending divorce.

Still, between bumps with Zach Randolph and the deafening roar of the Grindhouse, Duncan likely will have other things on his mind this weekend in Memphis. That can be the power of sports, offering refuge with its demands of immediacy, and he wouldn't be the first Spur to find sanctuary in this way.

In November of 2010, for example, Tony Parker stood in a hallway outside the Spurs' locker room facing an impromptu news conference and a messier situation. His social media contacts were linked to the wife of a former teammate, and Parker had no choice but to field questions.

“That's my private life,” he eventually said at one point, and he was kidding himself.

When your wife is a Hollywood starlet, and she announces her divorce plans in a gossip magazine, then you have no private life.

Some in Spurs management wondered where Parker's head was then. Maybe some teammates did, too.

Parker reacted as so many athletes do. He reacted to what was in front of him. That night, less than 24 hours after Eva Longoria's news went public, Parker led the Spurs in scoring and the Spurs won.

Parker knew what to do going forward, too. All he had to be was single again, and he didn't play too badly the last time he was. Then, he was MVP of the 2007 Finals.

Parker has been at or near his best since. Duncan had once joked that Parker had been in his “Hollywood phase.” The next step for Parker was to enter his All-Star phase.

Duncan has been through something else entirely. No telling text messages, no gossip magazines — just the pain that couples go through.

Only the timing of Amy's filing surprised him, according to the source. He had planned to file, too, but was waiting until he had worked out a settlement. The existence of a prenuptial agreement should make that smoother.

Otherwise, Duncan went to arenas as he always did. Among the few he confided in was Gregg Popovich; he no more wanted to drag his personal problems into the locker room than he would want to miss a defensive switch.

Maybe it was easier for him. He not only prides himself on showing so little, he was also investing so much of himself into this season already.

So Duncan simply did what he's always done. He gave to the game, and a stretch two months ago, when the initial divorce petition was filed, is telling of his ability to play with blinders on. Then, in an eight-game stretch, Duncan scored 28, 30, 25, 19, 17, 23, 34 and 17 points.

A marriage counselor would have been equally surprised by something else: Duncan had double-digit rebounds in seven of those games.

That doesn't mean the rest of his life was fine. But as Duncan was named to the All-NBA first team Thursday at age 37, an achievement that speaks to both physical and mental discipline, it's clear he has been able to separate his personal life from his professional one.

He will still have to talk with lawyers. He will still worry about his kids.

But when it comes to the Spurs — and when it comes to Game 3 — there's no reason to believe Duncan will be distracted.